Camp Reunion

When we all get together it gets pretty crazy!! But with that crazy comes an insane amount of fun and laughs. We all met up at the cabin (flakes, camps, strobelts) and had 3 days to spend together. The kids loved being together and there was always some little person to play with. Lets see... 11 kids under 9 is quite the party! My girls could not have been more lucky in the cousin department. For activities we spent an afternoon at the park/pond, had a treasure hunt in the woods, and went fishing. The fishing was very entertaining with fish being caught every 5 minutes. We threw about half back but still left with over 15 trout!! Alice loved seeing the fish squirm around but refused to touch them. As always it was a sad goodbye as  we waved goodbye to Brady and his family.  The memories we made will have to last us till we see them all again!

My mom made these dress ups for the little girls... they were just a little excited:) 2 Elsa's and an Ana

Treasure

These past couple weeks Scarlett has been on a "treasure" hunt. Every where we go she finds little pieces of garbage/plants/buttons/bottle caps on the ground and claims they are "treasure". She takes them home and puts them in her "treasure cups". Alice has joined in, of course, and my house has become littered with these "treasure cups". Pretty much my house is full of garbage:). We also can not go a day without dress up...it's become an obsession. Oh the life of little girls. What will life be like when the boy comes? Probably all this plus trains and planes:)

Scarlett has discovered play-dough and just loves it!! She builds letters, butterflys, houses, worms, and cars for hours. It has become a great activity for her to do while Alice takes a nap.

Alice and her "treasure cup"

It's Their Half Birthday!!

I just think of both girls as the same age but they are more than 2 years apart. Little Alice closes the age gap with all her talking, opinions, and demands that she is 4 years old. Alice is only 2.5 and Scarlett is 4.5 but they are mistaken for twins daily. They are the best little friends and love each other about 90% of the time. The other 10%... well lets just say there is a lot of wailing and nashing of teeth! Of course the fighting happens during those horrible late afternoon hours when I have zero patience. I would get them out of the house during those hours but then I face the hot afternoon sun. That is worse than fighting toddlers so I deal with it (not well usually:). Then Nick comes home and saves the day!

Scarlett at 4.5 years old- Scarlett is the biggest sweet heart with the most tender demeanor. She is our  peace maker and jumps at any opportunity to help the family. She loves to spend her afternoons coloring pictures of rainbows, butterflies, fairies, hearts, birds, and her family. Everyday she makes me a birthday card and tapes it shut. I open it and she tells me all about what the picture is.  She is obsessed with her birthday and when she sees something she wants she says "can I get that for my birthday on December 17th when I turn 5?". I say yes. So far she wants a pink bike with pedals, a Frozen castle, treasure, and a hello kitty cake. Of course she loves everything princess, pink, and fluffy. It's all about dress up and being Elsa from Frozen.  I love my Scarlett and the person she is growing up to be. I love that in her prayers she blesses the prophet, missionaries, and that we can all have "have happy hearts and choose the right".  She is always there to give me a hug and kiss whenever I want! If there was ever an angel on earth it would be my sweet Scarlett.

My cards. In them I am a butterfly fairy that is flying over flowers and under a rainbow. 

She dressed herself.

Alice at 2.5 year old- Alice is our daily entertainment. One minute she is snuggling and the next she is making everyone cry. I know that her strong, fierce personality will be a great blessing but these days it causes a lot of problems. I am waiting for these terrible twos to pass so I know what part of her personality is her and what part is just the age. Regardless, we all can't help but adore her! She is extremely socialy and talks to everyone and I mean everyone! This past Sunday during sacrament meeting she held an hour conversation with the kind lady behind us about necklaces, babies, treasure, and grandpas. We tried our best to get her to stop but it did no good. If she is awake her mouth is going and if you are near her than she will talk to you. She is in love with princesses (even more than Scarlett) and knows all their names. I tease her and mix up the princesses names and she get so upset at me. I love it. She insists on wearing a dress everyday because she is a princess too. She also loves/hates/is fascinated by sharks. We talk about them all day, read books about them, and talk about them some more. No matter how hard I try she insists they live in grandmas pool and will eat her/nibble her toes (don't worry she still loves to swim).  Which reminds me, she is stubborn and bossy. Not just a little but to the extreme! We sing songs together at night and she stubbornly insisted I sing one about cockroaches. Who is this girl?! Finally, I gave in a made one up. It is her favorite song and I sing about the baby cockroach that lives in the garage every night. Everyday is an adventure with this girl and I love me some baby Alice!! I swear God made her extra cute with her blonde curls and blue eyes just to help me get through the day without killing her!

Utah Adventure

So, Nick left the cabin Sunday afternoon and 2 hours later my mom showed up. The next morning we piled the girls in the car and headed up to Provo/Salt Lake/Midway for a little adventure. Alice whined/screamed/fought with Scarlett most of the way. I got a back neck strain from looking in the back seat and picking up her toys off the floor. On the way home that girl got NOTHING to play with. I had no patience for picking anything up. While in Utah we played cousins (both mine and the girls), spent time in Midway with Kim, visited Temple Square, picked raspberries, and did very little sleeping!! It was a blast! I was so very glad to spend time with my grandparents. Alice and Scarlett loved asking my Grandpa a million questions about snails, worms, and everything else that lives in his garden. They also took advantage of my Grandmas patience and had her read them about 100 books. I hope they will remember the memories made. I know this will be one of the last times up there visiting them and I am so glad my girls were with me to enjoy their wonderland of a home.

Looking at turtles in Provo. 

Scarlett woke up every morning begging to go outside and pick the raspberries. Thanks to her we were able to get enough to make yummy jam and eat them with cream!